Binance celebrates its ninth anniversary with a $4.5 million prize campaign, highlighting significant growth and user engagement.
On July 14, 2026, Binance celebrated its ninth anniversary by launching a month-long initiative called Built by You, featuring a substantial prize pool of over $4.5 million. This event coincided with the release of a performance report highlighting the platform's growth.
Binance now boasts more than 300 million registered users across over 100 countries. The platform's retail user base has seen a growth of approximately 7% in the last six months, while the institutional segment has expanded by 9%. Additionally, the number of listed cryptocurrencies increased by 11%, and trading pairs grew by 3%.
Remarkably, Binance services around 43% of all cryptocurrency holders globally. The number of global digital asset owners has skyrocketed from under 6 million in 2017, the year Binance launched, to over 741 million by 2025.
In terms of compliance, Binance has responded to 313,653 requests from law enforcement throughout its history, with 36,235 of those occurring in the first half of 2026. This cooperation has led to the recovery or freezing of more than $40 million in assets with the help of Binance.
Expansion into Traditional Finance
Since March 2026, Binance's trading volume for traditional finance has surpassed $80 billion monthly. The exchange recently made available over 7,000 U.S. stocks and ETFs, with the Direct Stocks trading service achieving $1 billion in assets under management and $3 billion in total turnover within just 30 days. Notably, 73% of this volume originated from users in emerging markets.
Additionally, the launch of tokenized securities through bStocks garnered $100 million in assets within the first 15 days. Nearly half of these transactions occurred during U.S. market closures, underscoring Binance's vision of an integrated super app for cryptocurrencies, stocks, payments, and on-chain services.
“The next era of digital finance will be defined by access, user control over assets, practical utility, and a regulated pathway to global markets,” Binance stated.
Innovations in Payments and Community Engagement
Binance Pay now supports national payment systems with QR codes in six countries, with plans to extend this to ten by the end of Q3. The Binance Card is currently available in 36 countries, and transaction volume through fiat payment channels reached $83.3 billion in the first half of the year, reflecting a 29% year-over-year increase.
Since 2019, Binance Earn has distributed $4.1 billion in income, while various programs such as Launchpool and HODLer Airdrops have provided $5.1 billion in rewards. The Binance Alpha platform has also contributed around $800 million in rewards.
In the first half of 2026, Binance implemented 198 improvements across 47 product categories based on 2,354 user reviews. Enhancements included the launch of the Merchant Pay feature in the Binance Junior app, which now includes parental controls.
By mid-June, the number of creators on Binance Square reached 4.74 million—an increase of 58% compared to 2025—while online events hosted by the exchange attracted 2.2 million participants.
Details of the Built by You Campaign
The Built by You campaign invites participants to explore a virtual city with nine landmarks, each representing a different Binance product, from initial deposits to spot trading. Users must claim the 9YA bonus and complete tasks at each landmark to earn rewards, culminating in a final drop from the $4.5 million prize pool after completing all nine tasks.
The campaign runs through July and includes offline meetups with users. In June, Binance captured an impressive 80% of the total trading volume in perpetual futures for traditional finance stocks, amounting to $53.8 billion, far surpassing its nearest competitor.
